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Libertine, The
“The Libertine” world-premiered at the AFI Fest 2005 and marks the feature film debut of British commercials and music video director Laurence Dunmore based on the 1994 play by Stephen Jeffreys who adapted it to the screen. Set against the extraordinary backdrop of The Restoration, the film offers a brilliant, brutal, tragically realistic, and witty look at 17th century England, perhaps the most authentic ever committed to film. The film follows the meteoric rise and fall of John Wilmot (Johnny Depp), the second Earl of Rochester, who was a gifted poet, a complicated genius, and a shameless rake. His short but wildly sexy, irreverent life reflected the growing new sensual freedom of the modern age that was filled with radical new ideas, heightened sexual permissiveness, and a festive exuberance in theater, parties and lifestyles. Famous for his irrepressible hedonism, rebellious personality, and daring, subversive wit, Rochester refused to obey any of the rules and dictates of his age and scandalized London society with his outrageous sexual escapades. He constructed a spectacular life for himself and then set about tragically destroying it, debauching his way to an early grave and squandering every advantage he had, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life’s work.
Depp’s portrayal of Rochester is powerful, intense, and compelling. The dark, mesmerizing, terrific to-camera opening prologue and closing epilogue, done in character as the scandalous libertine, epitomize the theatrical, larger than life nature of his tragically short existence. These scenes along with his gut wrenchingly eloquent speech before Parliament and confrontation with his wife at the end of his life exemplify his extraordinary artistry. He captures with impeccable finesse and naturalness the essence of a man who despised life, drank profusely, seduced women, insulted everyone from the King to his mother (Francesca Annis) to his servant, and preferred his portrait done with a monkey rather than his wife. Indeed, his contempt for everything that others respected was so profound as to almost amount to sublimity. Intertwined with his utter disrespect for life were his charm, esprit, irresistibility, and impulsive inclination to do whatever he pleased. As disease slowly ravages his body, Depp undergoes a haunting transformation into a character that is almost unbearable to watch, whose face is mutilated and scarred beyond recognition. And the more he becomes disfigured, the clearer our perception of the repulsive creature that exists within. His performance is riveting, heartrending, and played with tremendous range and depth. In what is an extraordinarily demanding role, Depp leaves the audience with strongly conflicted emotions of hatred, pity, love, admiration, and sympathy for his character that a lesser actor could not achieve.
The strong supporting cast includes Rosamund Pike, who turns in a powerful performance as Rochester’s devoted but neglected wife, Elizabeth, whose steadfast temperament helps her endure his unfaithfulness and indiscretions. Samantha Morton, in a bracing and mercurial performance, embodies the vulnerable, ambitious, talented, and fiercely independent actress Elizabeth Barry who becomes Rochester’s alluring theatrical protege. John Malkovich, in an atypically understated performance, plays the stately, restrained, sensual and decadent ruler, King Charles II who values Rochester’s friendship, admires his ingenuity, but finds him a frequent thorn in his side. Johnny Vegas plays the historical rake and wit, Charles Sackville. Kelly Reilly plays Rochester’s prostitute friend, Jane. Rupert Friend plays Downs who meets a tragic fate in Rochester’s company. Richard Coyle is Rochester’s aptly named servant, Allcock.
Jeffrey’s adaptation of the play to screen is brilliant. His screenplay is witty, pungent, sexually forthright, and authentic in its representation of the historical period in a manner rarely seen in cinema. And it offers an exciting mix of shrewd humor and emotional truth as he courageously examines the place of moral values and extreme behavior in a free society. While focusing on the adventure, romance and ruin of Rochester’s final years, he explores the connections between genius and decadence, freedom and danger, lust and love, and in doing so, invites the audience to see the parallels between Rochester’s sensually charged, morally corrupt era and our own modern times. Indeed, the story of Rochester is about the darker side of human nature. In his examination of Rochester’s life, love, and genius, Jeffrey exposes his subversive compulsion to betray his talent with his actions and destroy the things that mattered most to him. The dialogue is period appropriate and razor sharp, and the writing is smart as well as entertaining (e.g. “You’ve cut me down, I must confess; but in your mouth my balls must rest.”)
The film opens with Restoration-era intrigue as King Charles II confronts a hostile House of Lords. Then it shifts focus to the personal dilemmas of the Earl of Rochester as he splits his time between his home in the countryside and his roguish lifestyle in London. We see him plunge from the heights of social celebrity to the depths of ruin as he drowns his creative genius in alcohol, scurrilously lampoons England’s royals with sexually explicit poems, pursues his obsession with the struggling actress Elizabeth Barry, watches as his career is surpassed by friend and literary contemporary, George Etherege (Tom Hollander), and finally seeks a self-serving redemption before succumbing to syphilis. His short, but intensely colorful life was filled with so many outrageous, often self-contained, incidents that it presents a daunting challenge to weave them into a coherent narrative. Indeed, in the final cut (as compared to the work-in-progress screened at the Toronto Film Festival), a couple of incidents (i.e. when Rochester disappears after a lethal street fight and reappears as the infamous Dr. Bendo) have been shortened at the expense of narrative continuity. In their abridged version, they fit awkwardly within the broader context of the story and disrupt the film’s otherwise smooth narrative flow. That said, these are minor imperfections in an otherwise exceptional film, and they are offset by Depp’s extraordinary performance which provides cohesion to the occasionally choppy storyline.
Dunmore’s direction is strong and the film’s pace is tight. He captures the atmosphere of the period exquisitely with simplicity, a sharp eye for detail, and the use of compelling images that frame the flamboyant artifice of the period in close-up and reveal a society recovering from years of Cromwellian repression and post-Puritan excess. From fops and painted dandies slogging through London’s crowded streets congested with mud, muck and raw sewage to an amusing ‘family’ portrait of the Earl with a monkey bought spontaneously from a street vendor to enliven the boring formality of the occasion, Dunmore gives us scenes that are at once incongruous and entirely appropriate to the era and to the character of Rochester. He creates a very fluid style to capture the action by putting the camera on his shoulder and operating it himself rather than using the more traditional approach of putting it on a dolly or a crane. Using a hand-held camera allows him to move quickly and economically, not waste time trying to figure out tricky moves, and work more intimately with his actors by positioning himself next to the action while they are performing and watching the scenes unfold directly in front of him. In a scene between Rochester and his wife, Dunmore racks focus in a stack shot as they deliver their lines allowing their performance to motivate the camera. When Rochester succumbs to the ravages of syphilis which included progressive blindness, his point of view is shot almost entirely out of focus for large portions of one scene. In a compelling sequence that puts the audience in the middle of the action, the camera pans twice 360 degrees around the interior of a London theater as its balconies fill with spectators and the actors assume their positions on stage. The camera’s fluid, dynamic movement captures the raucous mood of the spectators and conveys the nervous anticipation of the performers.
Cinematographer Alexander Melman collaborated closely with Dunmore to create a unique 17th century look that does not reflect its 21st century origins. Together, they imbue the film with a dark, raw, grungy realism not seen before in period pieces. Nearly every interior shot is lit with candles while green filters are used to remove warmth and put a green pallor into all the flesh tones. Mud, mist, rain and smoke captured in grey-brown tones convey the film’s gritty look and mood perfectly. Melman contrasts the opulence and splendor of the court and of life inside the aristocratic realm against the grimy dynamism outside on the city streets of London where one can practically smell the noxious odors. He uses a variety of photographic techniques to draw a stark contrast between Rochester’s stately home life and the raw energy and excitement of his life in London. Rich colors convey the magic of the theatrical world while grainy realism reflects the filth, haze, and grime of the ordinary world. Melman collaborated closely with production designer Ben Van Os and costume designer Dien Van Straalen to create a detailed color palette that is woven throughout the film’s entire design and enhanced with primarily natural light. Dunmore also paid meticulous attention to choosing castles, estates, and locations that were authentic to the era.
Dunmore’s visionary approach challenges the established conventions of filmmaking and reflects the innovative approach of a new generation of filmmaker. His ingenuous camera work, unique stylistic choices, and bold lighting and production design create a look and ambiance that draw upon his strong graphic design background to reveal the widely shifting moods of Rochester’s times, the elaborate decadence, and the seedier aspects of the Restoration. The dark, candlelit cinematography gives the film its voice and soul, infuses the action with extraordinary emotional depth, and captures eloquently the mood and spirit of its central character and his times. These are breathtaking, seductive images that make no apology for the film’s unremittingly dark subject matter or raunchy, pornographic irreverence, and they leave deep and lasting impressions in the minds of the audience. The layered, smoky interiors, especially those shot in the noisy, crowded theater with candlelight alone, imbue the dark scenes with a grainy, softly persistent flicker reminiscent of early silent cinema and diametrically opposed to the beautiful, glossy, overly art-directed look of Kubrick’s period piece, “Barry Lyndon.” Some scenes are so underlit that the action is just barely discernable. Yet the film’s dark look does not distract from its compelling story. Instead, it infuses the film with a stark, absolute power and raw energy through which the performances shine brightly.
The hair and make-up design by Peter Owen is superb. The combination of prosthetic nose, enormous poodle wig, pale make-up, and reddened eyes transform Malkovich into King Charles II and give him a convincing, care-worn look. Owen takes Depp through an astonishing transformation in a carefully controlled sequence of progressive physical deterioration as his character succumbs to the ravages of syphilis and alcoholism. Michael Nyman’s insistent and haunting musical score captures eloquently the spirit of the times. Framestore CFC provides the film’s digital visual effects.
“The Libertine” is an extraordinary film that is not to be missed. Depp’s deep and well reasoned performance confirms once again his stature as one of the great actors of his generation. His portrayal of the fascinating, tormented, and self destructive Rochester is indeed one of the very strongest performances of any actor this year. And Dunmore’s exceptional direction succeeds in realizing the full cinematic potential of the story based on the play of the same name expertly adapted to screen by Jeffreys.
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